In the preparation of mass mailings, for example, it is often desired to attach a card, such as a credit card or the like, to a carrier document so that the former can be peeled easily from the carrier document for use by a consumer. One method of making such an attachment uses a pressure-sensitive, thermoplastic adhesive. During the printing or collating process, a portion of the thermoplastic adhesive is metered onto the carrier document and the card pressed against this material. The equipment for this process includes a heating container for the thermoplastic adhesive and a metering pump that may be electrically actuated.
Thermoplastic adhesive can be difficult to work with. Its high melting temperature and adhesive properties present some risk of burn to untrained operators. The price of the equipment for dispensing the thermoplastic adhesive and positioning and placing the attachments makes such equipment impractical for low volume mailings. Further it is inefficient to activate such equipment for short runs both in energy costs and wasted glue.